The invention relates to rendering bar codes for use on coupons, promotions and other incentives and for other purposes. The invention also relates to providing a method and system in a distributed network for electronic distribution of incentives, such as coupons, to a plurality of remote users and the management of information involved in such distribution.
The present invention relates to the electronic distribution of secure money saving or discount coupons and other marketing incentives and in particular to use of a centrally located online computer system for interactively distributing such coupons to remotely connected consumer computers and for collecting user-specific data regarding coupon usage and user demographic information from the remote computers.
Millions of consumers regularly use product redemption coupons and realize substantial savings as a result. Significant time is spent clipping and sorting coupons, discarding expired coupons and organizing current coupons for use on shopping trips. Conventional coupon distribution results in significant wasted time due to consumers"" attempts to manage their coupon use.
Coupons are delivered to consumers through a variety of media. The primary coupon distribution is via pull-out sections in newspapers, which are known as free standing inserts (FSIs). This accounts for just over 80% of coupons used. Other methods of distribution include in-store shelf coupon dispensers, check-out coupons (generally issued based on the customer""s current purchase), register receipt coupons, in-product coupons, instant peel-off on-product coupons and direct mail coupons. In addition to manufacturers"" coupons, consumers use retail store coupons, such as those issued by large retail chains on a weekly basis.
Some consumers use coupons on a fairly random basis. These consumers tend not to keep coupons for future use, but will review coupons available just prior to shopping to see if any of them cover products they plan to buy or if there are any for new or improved products of interest.
More organized coupon users maintain some form of storage system to keep coupons for future use. These consumers often clip coupons regularly from all available sources, and often have coupon filing systems by product category. They will also review their coupons regularly, discarding unused coupons which have expired.
For most consumers, attempts to maintain an organized coupon file often fails. The xe2x80x9cbotherxe2x80x9d and time required to maintain organized coupon files often results in neglect of those files, even though diligent shoppers know that a consistent significant savings is easily achievable using coupons.
The notion of issuing product redemption coupons to consumers was an innovative idea to entice consumers to try new products in the hope that, after the first try of a new product at a coupon discounted price, they would become repeat customers at the regular price. Coupons are effective tools used in launching new products. Manufacturers also find coupons can shore up flagging sales, help reduce excess inventory or win back consumers"" brand loyalty, and so coupons for existing products have become customary, so much so that today""s consumers have come to expect coupons. Often, coupon price incentives significantly reduce brand loyalty, and manufacturers must issue more coupons than desired to maintain market share. Market share also has been impacted by an increase in the number and variety of competing xe2x80x9cno-namexe2x80x9d store brands. The competitive nature of the retail industry does not allow manufacturers to reduce coupon distribution, and in some market sectors, such as cereals, the majority of purchases are made with coupons.
Consumers are most familiar with FSIs as a source for manufacturers"" coupons. In 1993, the coupon redemption rate from FSIs was 2.3%, and gradually declining. The primary factors which keep the redemption rate low include consumers not needing or wanting the product advertised, consumers not bothering to clip coupons, losing clipped coupons or leaving them behind on shopping trips, lack of 100% distribution of newspapers, overcouponing within specific areas, and unavailability of new products when the coupon is issued.
Free standing inserts currently represents the largest share of the coupon distribution industry, roughly 80.2%. On average, manufacturers who use FSIs for coupon distribution, spend approximately $0.92 per coupon redeemed, which is the lowest redeemed cost per coupon redeemed when compared with other current coupon distribution methods. FSI coupon distribution results in high costs per coupon because of the shear complexity of and volume of materials involved in coupon distribution and redemption. Charges to manufacturers by FSI producers cover set-up, printing, paper, freight, newspaper insertion costs, sales and marketing, overhead, and profit.
Direct mail coupons accounted for approximately 4.4% of coupon distribution in 1992. Direct mail coupons may be issued as part of a nationwide campaign or a regional campaign, may be cooperative or solo, and may be mass, zip-code/lifestyle/lifestage segmented or household targeted. Regional direct mail coupons are more common, and are usually limited to marketing the products and/or services of local vendors. Companies who practice database marketing make use of direct mail campaigns for delivering targeted incentives.
Run-of-Press (xe2x80x9cROPxe2x80x9d) Coupons accounted for 4.1% of the coupons distributed in 1992. These coupons consist primarily of stand alone newspaper advertisements with clip-out coupons. Often these advertisements are specifically placed to coincide with a relevant feature article. This form or coupon is marketed directly or through third party coupon issuers who have the nationwide newspaper distribution channels through which to place ROP coupons.
In/on pack coupons accounted for 3.5% of the coupons distributed in 1992. On pack coupons consist of an attached coupon which is removed and redeemed at the cash register at the time of purchase. In pack coupons are found within the product and act as an incentive to customers to repurchase the same product. It is estimated that the actual cost per in/on pack coupon redeemed is significantly less than that associated with other coupon distribution methods. Most on-pack coupons are redeemed as customers pay for their purchases. However, this also means that all items are sold at the coupon discount, lowering a manufacturer""s overall revenues per product more so than other types of coupons.
In 1992, various other coupon distribution methods represented 5% of coupons distributed. Two important coupon distribution methods in this category include shelf distribution and custom prepared coupon distribution. Thousands of stores use coupon dispensers which are attached to a product""s shelf. Customers can pull out one coupon from the dispenser for the product advertised. This method of coupon distribution is designed to reach the consumer at the point of making a purchase decision, and has a redemption rate of approximately 18%.
Check-out coupons are printed at the check-out by a printer installed at the cash register. A computer analyzes the purchases made by each customer, and can print competitor""s coupons or other coupons related to items in the current purchase. This system has a coupon redemption rate of approximately 9%.
The coupon industry expends a great deal of resources in market research, printing, issuing, distributing, and redeeming coupons, yet produces an extremely low redemption rate. This is attributed to the haphazard systems used by most consumers of manually clipping, filing, sorting through, and ultimately using the coupons, and to the high cost associated with targeting coupons to each consumer.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to meet the needs of the coupon industry and the consumer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,044 to Von Kohorn describes a television-based coupon reception system wherein coupon information is transmitted along with program information to a broadcast audience. A member of the audience can generate a coupon for subsequent redemption at a store.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,278 and 5,287,181 to Holman also teach a television-based coupon reception system. Coupon information is encoded into a television broadcast signal and decoded at the consumer""s television by circuitry similar to that used for closed-caption broadcast decoding. The extracted coupon information is then recorded on a medium such as a magnetic stripe card or a microprocessor-based xe2x80x9csmart cardxe2x80x9d. The user can then present the medium at the supermarket in order to automatically receive the appropriate discount.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,695 to Pruchniki discloses an electronic paperless coupon system which obviates the need for a paper coupon in order to save printing, processing, and clearinghouse costs as well as eliminating counterfeiting. Coupon redemption information is transmitted from a central system to local retailers, where coupon signs are placed near the related item. The discount is automatically applied at the point of sale without the need for the consumer to present a paper coupon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,224 to Spector teaches a closed-loop coupon system which consists of a kiosk type printer station located at a retail store. The kiosk is linked to the manufacturer(s) in order to obtain specific coupon information. The consumer selects the desired coupon at the kiosk, and the coupon is printed and dispensed. The consumer presents the coupon at the register, where the discount is applied and the discount transaction data is transmitted back to the manufacturer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,041 to Lemon et al. discloses a system with remotely located coupon printing stations capable of limiting the number of coupons printed in a given time period. Each coupon station has a display for indicating the available coupons, selection means to allow the consumer to choose the desired coupon, and coupon printer. The system disables display of a particular coupon when a preselected coupon limit has been reached.
While these aforementioned prior art attempts at providing couponing systems are useful in their own right, they fail to provide for a secure and interactive coupon generation system in which the user can request, select, store, manipulate, and print coupons as desired, in which user-specific information such as demographic data and data representative of those coupons so requested, selected, printed, and actually used may be provided back to the coupon issuer and distributor for more efficient coupon targeting in subsequent coupon issuance and distribution. Readable images, such as bar codes, are used extensively for various purposes and in numerous applications. In particular, bar codes are used in transaction applications, such as in the redemption and tracking of coupons, wherein the bar code image represents one or more transaction data. Examples of transaction data represented by or encoded within bar codes are: redemption amount; expiration or term of offer; identity of coupon holder, issuer, redeemer, subject product or service; and many other pertinent or desirable information. Typically, in a coupon issuing or distribution system a particular document format is applied in universal or nearly universal fashion in which a predefined area is reserved or assigned for use in applying a bar code while other areas are reserved for other images or information. Often, electronic information representing the bar code image and the other reserved fields are transmitted or delivered to a station, typically a PC and connected printer, which has a built-in document generating module or program. The document generating module creates a desired document, such as a coupon, by applying the predefined document formatting rules to the received document information. The created document is then delivered to the attached printer for generating a printed document consistent with the document format and displaying the received document information, as well as other information that may be included within the formatting module.
Many techniques for printing bar codes are known. In general, bar code symbols are formed from bars or elements that are typically parallel alternating black and white rectangular stripes having a range of possible widths. The particular widths and order of the elements define the characters represented based on an established scheme or set of rules associated with a specified code or xe2x80x9csymbology.xe2x80x9d The relative size of the bars and spaces is a function of the code. The bars and spaces, typically alternating spaces of black and white stripes, are of differing light reflecting characteristics. The number of characters per inch represented by the bar code symbol relates to the symbol""s density. A collection of bars and elements is arranged in a complete bar code symbol sequence to encode a desired string of characters so as to form a decodable message. Each character of the message is represented by a corresponding group of bars and spaces. Also, a xe2x80x9cstartxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d character may be included to indicate where the bar code begins and where it ends. These bar code schemes or symbologies include UPC, EAN, Code 39, Code 128, Codabar, and others.
Electro-optical scanning systems and CCD (charge coupled devices) code readers are used to scan and decode bar codes. Optical readers and scanning systems read bar code symbols from documents, labels, surfaces of articles, etc. The bar code symbol, as described above, is a coded pattern that collectively presents a graphic indicia. The optical readers and scanning systems transform the graphic indicia into decodable electrical signals that are descriptive of some article or subject. The digitized electrical signals are input to a data processing system, such as for point-of-sale processing, inventory management, mailing system management, etc.
Typical scanning systems have a detector or sensor which detects light reflected from the alternating bars and spaces that make up the bar code symbol. The systems are configured so that the detector is placed in an optical path having a field of view by which it can access the bar code symbols being presented for scanning. The reflected light patterns are detected and converted into electrical signals. A decoder receives the electrical signals and decodes the electrical signals into digital representations of the scanned character data. The analog electrical signal detected by the optical detector is converted into a PWM signal having widths that correspond to the physical widths of the graphical image or indicia. The signal is then decoded into a binary representation of the character data, and then to the alphanumeric character.
Some detectors utilize solid state imaging technology, e.g., charge coupled devices (CCDs), CMOS imagers, etc. In such solid state devices an array of multiple detectors is employed and is typically referred to individually as xe2x80x9cpixels.xe2x80x9d The detector floods the bar code image with light from a light source or from ambient light to determine the presence of bars or spaces. A CCD reader employs an imaging lens and an image sensor, or a linear CCD array, and uses a scanning mirror for scanning, or a fixed mirror for manually scanning, the presented bar code image or graphic indicia.
Initially, with the scanning mirror in a fixed mode, the system outputs a beam of light which is aimed by the user to the center of the bar code image. Next, the scanning mirror rotates causing the light beam to scan the entire code. After scanning and acquiring the image, the CCD array generates an analog electrical signal representative of the scanned bar code. An analog to digital converter processes the electrical signal and generates a digital representation thereof. A bar code image discriminator may be used to identify the type of code.
Bar codes are particularly useful in that they permit electronic scanning and may be utilized in a variety of applications. Bar code scanners are known and are commercially available from sources such as Symbol Technologies, Inc. To facilitate scanning without errors and without requiring expensive scanners, it is generally desirable to print bar codes that are relatively large. In some applications the amount of space available for the bar code, and thus to at least a certain extent the maximum size of the bar code, is limited by other factors.
For example, bar codes may be used on coupons that are electronically downloaded by a consumer from a centralized source to a personal computer, wireless handheld device, mobile phone, PDA, kiosk or other terminal device and printed by an attached printer or other rendering device. Bar codes enable the coupons to be scanned when presented, when redeemed, or at other times. In at least some cases, the downloaded coupon may be formatted in a certain way, giving rise to limitations on the maximum size of a bar code imprinted therein. For example, a coupon template may specify an area for a UPC bar code, where the area may occupy a 3 inch wide region. If the coupon is being rendered by a printer, the size of the bar code will be primarily dictated by the space available (in this example a maximum width of 3 inches) and the resolution of the printer or other rendering device. For example a printer with a resolution of 150 dpi (dots per inch) could render the UPC bar code with a maximum of 450 dots (3 inchesxc3x97150 dpi). Some bar codes, e.g., a UPC bar code, may have specifications that require a fixed integer resolution (e.g., a fixed number of pixels). For example, if a bar code has a width of 118 pixels, but the screen display area for the bar code is 450 pixels, certain drawbacks exist.
Printers, displays and other rendering devices are not of infinite resolution. Thus, such a device must anti-alias or adjust an image when it scales the image. Thus the lines may not exactly align with the pixels of a printer or other rendering device. As a result, inaccuracies in the desired proportions exist. This can lead to scanning errors.
Past attempts to maximize the size of the UPC bar code in this example would result in some form of anti-aliasing, interpolation or other technique to xe2x80x9cspreadxe2x80x9d the 118 units over 450 pixels. This leads to various problems, including at least some lines of the bar code being grainy or blurry. This can lead to scanning errors. This is an undesirable drawback.
One object of the invention is to overcome these and other drawbacks of existing systems and methods.
One object of the invention is to avoid inaccuracies in the proportions of the lines of a bar code when xe2x80x9cstretchingxe2x80x9d or scaling the bar code, such as caused by aliasing techniques.
In addition to the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a coupon distribution system which overcomes the aforementioned problems and shortcomings of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic coupon distribution system which can be easily accessed by masses of consumers by using a readily available personal computer rather than needing to purchase special-purpose equipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows a user to request transmission of coupon data and select, store, manipulate, and print coupons from such coupon data.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows the coupon issuing companies to access valuable information directly from the consumer without requiring specific and additional action by the consumer, but rather by using the information from the user""s personal computer regarding the consumer""s selection, printing, and actual redemption of coupons, as well as responses to demographic queries posed to the users.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows a consumer to generate shopping lists associated with coupons selected and printed, in order to simplify the shopping process and promote the use of product coupons.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows for automatic deletion of expired coupons in the user""s computer database and the modification of redemption amounts of coupons in the user""s database, both of which can be transparent to the user.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a secure coupon system which generates unique coupons with user-identifying data and allows the printing of a coupon only once, thus eliminating the possibility of fraud by both the consumer and the retailer.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an efficient, low cost, zip-code/lifestyle/lifestage or household targeted coupon distribution system to tailor the incentives to each user.
Readable images, such as bar codes, are used extensively for various purposes and in numerous applications. In particular, bar codes are used in transaction applications, such as in the redemption and tracking of coupons, wherein the bar code image represents one or more transaction data. Examples of transaction data represented by or encoded within bar codes used in coupons, incentives or other such documents include: redemption amount; expiration or term of offer; identity of coupon holder, issuer, redeemer, subject product or service; and many other pertinent or desirable information. In a coupon issuing or distribution system of the present invention a predefined document format is applied in a universal or nearly universal fashion in which a predefined area is reserved or assigned for use in applying a bar code while other areas are reserved for other images or information. Often, electronic information representing the bar code image and the other reserved fields are transmitted or delivered to a station, typically a PC and connected printer, which has a built-in document generating module or program.
The document generating module creates a desired document, such as a coupon, by applying the predefined document formatting rules to the received document information. The created document is then delivered to the attached station printer for generating a printed document that is consistent with the document format and that displays the received document information, as well as other fixed information that may be included within the formatting module. Where a plurality of remote users access and print coupons from a variety of remote station configurations having a variety of printer types, the particular resolution associated with each such printer type may vary widely.
In accordance with the above stated objects, as well as others, The bar code rendering system of the present invention addresses such objects by various embodiments discussed herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, the system detects the resolution of the printer or other rendering device and optimizes the scale of the bar code so that the bar code lines and pixels perfectly align to avoid blurry or grainy lines. In this manner, the bar codes are always the theoretical ideal of a scalable bar code, a whole integer multiple of the available pixel xe2x80x9cbandwidth.xe2x80x9d Device resolution is typically quantified based on the picture element unit xe2x80x9cpixels.xe2x80x9d
A pixel is the smallest resolvable rectangular area of an image, either on a screen or stored in memory. Each pixel in a monochrome image has its own brightness, from 0 for black to a maximum value, e.g., 255 for an eight-bit pixel, for white. In a color image, each pixel has its own brightness and color, usually represented as a triple of red, green and blue intensities. For purposes of the disclosure of the embodiments provided herein the description is limited to monochrome images, however it should be understood that the present invention fully contemplates other images, including color images. Inaccuracies arise when the pixel width of a bar code image does not match or align with the available pixels in a defined width based on a given printer""s resolution.
For example, if a bar code is 118 pixel units wide, and only 450 pixels are available on the printer, the system will not attempt to stretch the bar code image to 450 pixels. Rather, the system will only use the greatest whole number multiple of the number of required pixels less than the total number of available pixels and center the image in the total available pixels. For the example above, the system will scale the bar code to 354 pixels (3 times the 118 pixel requirement) and center those 354 pixels in the 450 pixels. If however, the coupon were being rendered on a printer with a resolution of 500 dpi, the UPC bar code could be scaled to 472 pixels. Because the system uses whole integer scaling, the available pixels align with the bar code pixel bandwidth. An analogy would be to describe the bar code and the printer map as being in tune at a particular frequency, the whole integer one being the fundamental frequency and the whole numbers greater than one being harmonic frequencies of the fundamental frequency.
This is a significant advance over the prior art methods of rendering bar codes which effectively xe2x80x9cstretchedxe2x80x9d the image to fit the available space without regard for aligning the pixel maps of the bar code and the printer. Using the example of a 118 pixel width bar code and a printer area width of 450 pixels, one method of the prior art would stretch the bar code image to fit the entire available printer area. In this manner, the stretching factor is 3.813, which is 450 divided by 118, and the misalignment factor is 4.6875, which is 450 divided by 96, the remainder of 450-354. Accordingly, every fourth or fifth pixel column along the entire width of the available printer area will not align with the bar code and where adjacent information is not identical, then the rendering system xe2x80x9cguessesxe2x80x9d or interpolates the information to assign to that pixel column. In dealing with adjacent black and white stripes of bar code images, there are three typical methods of interpolating such data and generating print data: 1) average the data by creating a xe2x80x9cgrayxe2x80x9d pixel column, really an array of spaced apart black dots on a white background; 2) randomly or pseudo-randomly assign the entire column as black; and 3) randomly or pseudo-randomly assign the entire column as white. Each of these xe2x80x9cinterpolationsxe2x80x9d will result in blurry hard to read images or inaccurate renderings caused by arbitrary pixel print information.
In addition to the foregoing, and in accordance with still other objects, provided is a system for distributing and generating at a remote site product redemption coupons comprising centrally located repository of electronically stored product redemption coupon data, transmission means operatively associated with said centrally located repository for providing data communication between said repository and a plurality of remote user computers, and a remote user computer operatively associated with said transmission means. The remote user computer in the present invention comprises interface means for providing user interaction with the centrally located repository, a memory, and a coupon data management program. The coupon data management program is implemented by the computer for requesting coupon data from the centrally located repository, for storing in the memory coupon data transmitted from the centrally located repository, and for generating printable coupon data from the stored coupon data. The remote user computer also comprises a coupon output buffer operatively associated with the data management program for storing the printable coupon data generated by said coupon data management program.
The present invention additionally comprises a printer for printing product redemption coupons from the printable coupon data stored in the coupon output buffer. Alternatively, the system may enable the user to transmit electronically the printable coupon data from the coupon output buffer to the centrally located repository or directly to the retailer for electronic coupon redemption.
As a result of the present invention, a user of the remote computer is able to request coupon data to be transmitted from said centrally located repository, and the user is able to instruct his computer to print or electronically transfer product redemption coupons generated from the transmitted coupon data. In particular, the user""s computer assembles product redemption coupons for printing by using two data components; (1) fixed coupon data which is transmitted to the user""s computer during an initialization or xe2x80x9csign-upxe2x80x9d process and which remains stored on the user""s computer for subsequent coupon generation, and (2) variable coupon data which is transmitted to the user""s computer whenever he requests coupon data from the central repository.
Additionally, the coupon data management program of the present invention operates in conjunction with the remote computer to allow the user to select and store certain desired coupon data from the coupon data transmitted by the centrally located repository and print coupons as selected. The coupon data management program also allows the user to generate a shopping list which is correlated to the coupons printed for subsequent redemption.
In the present invention, the data exchange capabilities provided by the transmission medium between the remote computer and the central repository allow the automatic transfer of valuable information from the remote computer to the central repository and, ultimately, to the coupon distributing and issuing centers. Information related to the coupons selected and printed can be supplied to the coupon distributors and issuers, which can also use information obtained from the various retail stores as to which coupons were actually redeemed in order to more intelligently market subsequent coupons and target coupon issuance in a more cost effective manner.
The data exchange capabilities are further advantageously utilized in the present invention to allow, via the central repository, the updating of coupon data stored in the user""s remote computer without required interaction from the user if the user is online. In particular, the central repository can delete expired coupons from the remote computer""s coupon database and can vary the amount of redemption value of a non-expired coupon if so desired. The capability for the updating and deleting of coupons within a user""s computer is programmed in the user""s computer such that no further interaction with the central repository is required for such coupons to be deleted or updated.
Finally, the present invention provides for secure coupon generation by allowing the printing of a particular coupon only once. Further, and quite importantly, the present invention provides for the printing on each coupon of certain user-specific data, thus making each coupon printed unique. Thus, two different users with access to printing a particular coupon will each print coupons with the same product, discount, and expiration date data, yet each will be unique since printed thereon will be user-specific data, preferably in the form of a user-specific bar code. Thus, any attempts to duplicate via photocopying techniques any particular coupon will be discouraged since the coupon redemption center will detect when a particular coupon has been redeemed, will identify the user who redeems a particular coupon, and will disallow any attempt at redemption of a second coupon with identical product and user-specific data.